Upright piano action



Feb. 7, 1939. w o| I 2,146,114

UPRIGHT PIANO ACTION Filed Feb. 24, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 M44 MM J? //V//0L/l4.

INVENTOR.

I I A um/58, g 92% i ATTORNEYS 1939- w. s, FINHOLM UPRIGHT PIANO ACTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 2%, 1936 U ATTIHUVEYIi Patented Feb. 7, 1939 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFECE UPRIGHT PIANO ACTION 10 Claims.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in piano actions and more particularly it pertains to piano actions of the upright type.

It is the object of the present invention to improve the construction and mode of operation of piano actions of the upright type and to simplify their construction without in any way impairing their operation.

A feature of the invention resides in a new and novel construction and arrangement of parts whereby the number of operating parts is materially reduced over that employed in the socalled standard upright piano action.

A further feature of the invention resides in the provision of a piano action which is more quiet under continued use than are actions as generally heretofore constructed.

Still a further feature of the invention resides in the provision of a piano action which is lighter in weight, lighter in striking action and capable of more rapid repetition than any prior upright action with which I am familiar.

Still a further feature of the invention resides in the provision of an upright piano action which is capable of extremely close regulation.

Still a further feature of the invention resides in the provision of an upright piano action which is extremely easy to assemble, disassemble and to adjust.

Still a further feature of the present invention resides in a simplified structure which permits of the use of extremely simple mouldings in the manufacture of the several parts, thereby reducing to a minimum the possible breaking or spoiling of such parts during their manufacture and consequently materially reducing the cost of manufacture of the action.

Other features of the invention relate to certain novel and improved constructions, arrangements and combinations of parts hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the advantages of which will be readily understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art.

The invention will be clearly understood from the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention in its preferred form and the following detailed description of the constructions therein shown.

Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a piano action constructed in accordance with the present invention,

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional View illustrating the action parts in their position of rest,

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 on a slightly reduced scale illustrating the action parts in the position which they assume when the support for the lower action has been removed and illustrating the fact that the lower action is supported from sagging directly from the hammer and hammer rail,

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view on a slightly enlarged scale illustrating the parts of the action in their position of rest in full lines and in dotted lines, illustrating the hammer in the act of striking a string, the view showing the manner in which the hammer regulating screw clears the back check during a note striking operation,

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 showing the position of the parts at the instant before the kick-off of the fly lever; and,

Figure 6 is a similar view illustrating the parts in the position which they assume after the hammer has struck the string and rebounded to position where it is held by the back check.

An upright piano action may be divided into two parts, namely, the upper action and the lower action, and because reference will be hereinafter made to these two parts separately, I Will now define the upper and lower actions.

The so-called upper action includes the hammer and its associated parts, the hammer rail, the damper lever and its associated parts. The so-called lower action includes the wippen, fly lever, back check and damper lever operating spoon.

A long moulding which extends throughou the length of a piano and known as the action rail, forms the support for both the upper and lower action, the former being mounted upon the upper edge of the action rail, the latter being mounted upon the lower edge of the action rail.

I also wish it understood that when I refer hereinafter to a piano action, I mean the mechanism employed in the operation of one striking hammer and not the entire group of individual hammer operating mechanisms, which group goes to make up a complete instrument.

In the accompanying drawings, l designates the action rail which, in accordance with the present invention, may be mounted in any approved manner. Secured to the action rail adjacent its lower edge, there is a wippen flange l2, in which the wippen I4 is pivotally mounted as at US. In its normal position of rest, the wippen M has its free end resting upon the capstan screw l carried by the striking key II, which is mounted in any conventional manner, not herein illustrated.

The fly lever is designated l8, and it is pivotally mounted as at 20 in the fly flange 22, which latter in turn is rigidly carried by the wippen i4. Carried by the fly lever l8, preferably at a point closely adjacent its pivotal point, there is an adjustable stop 24. This stop 24 is so positioned that, upon operation of the action to strike a note, the stop will be moved into engagement with the action rail for a purpose to be hereinafter described. A back check wire or rod 26 projects upwardly from the wippen and the back check 28 is mounted upon the upper end thereof.

As best illustrated in Figure 1 of the drawings, the back check 28 is provided with a curved upper end 38 provided with a felt 32, and this portion of the back check is bifurcated as at 34.

The reference character 36 designates the hammer flange which is secured as at 38, to the hammer rail; Pivotally mounted as at 40 in the hammer flange, there is a hammer assembly which comprises a hammer butt 42, the hammer shank 44 and the hammer 36. The hammer butt 42 has a shoulder G8 which is provided with a soft surface, generally formed by a strip of leather. In the normal position of rest of the parts, the upper end of the fly lever engages this shoulder 48 of the hammer butt as shown in Figure 4 of the drawings, and is adapted to be tripped out of engagement therewith, as illustrated in Figure 6 during a note striking operation.

The fly lever i8 is, in its normal position of rest, maintained in engagement with the shoulder 48 by means of a bowed spring 50. This spring 58 is preferably a flat, elongated piece of relatively thin and narrow spring metal and it is retained in operation by its own tension, its upper end being received in a slot or kerf 52 in the fly lever, its lower end being received in a slot or kerf 54 in the wippen.

The upper end of the hammer shank rests upon a hammer rail 58 in the usual manner, and this hammer rail is of the ordinary or conventional structure in that it is movable in a direction towards the strings til in order to shorten the throw of the hammers, thereby to produce softer tones.

Projecting from the hammer butt 42 there is a regulating member 62, in the form of a T-shaped screw which projects through the bifurcated end 34 of the back check 28, with its cross head 64 adapted for engagement with the curved end 30 of the back check 28.

As the hammer moves from its position of rest into engagement with a string 60 to produce a note, the T-head of the regulating member will move through an arc defined by the broken line designated A in Figure 4 of the drawings, while during a note striking operation, the back check will move through an arc defined by the broken line B in said figure. It is to be noted that the are or curvature of the curved end 30 of the back check is concentric with the arc defined by the broken line A and that the arc defined by the broken line B intersects the arc of the curvature of the curved end of the back check at the point C. By this construction then, it will be apparent that movement of the back check to the right in Figure 4 will result in engagement of the curved end 30 of the back check with the T-head of the regulating member 62, the purpose of which action will be hereinafter specifically mentioned.

The reference numeral 10 designates the damper flange which is secured as at 12 to the hammer rail ID. The damper lever 16 is pivotally mounted as at 14 in the damper flange 10, the damper head 18 being adjustably mounted upon the upper end of the damper wire extending from the upper end of the damper lever 16. Upon the lower end of the damper lever 16 there is a felt 13 which is engaged by the spoon 15, which in turn is carried by the wippen i4 and serves, upon operation of the mechanism, to rock the damper lever to move the damper head out of engagement with the string 6!] as the same is being engaged by the hammer.

Interposed between the hammer butt and the damper lever, there is a bowed spring 88. This spring is preferably formed from a relatively long, narrow and thin piece of spring metal of such length that at all times when in its operative position, it will be under sufficient tension to retain it in place. One end of this spring 86 is received in a notch in the hammer butt 42, its other end being received in a notch 81 in the damper lever 13; Thus it Will be apparent that this bowed spring 86 exerts its tension in opposite directions upon the hammer butt and the damper tending normally to retain the hammer in position upon the hammer rail 58, and the damper head 78 in engagement with the string 60.

The reference numeral we designates the damper rod. This rod is mounted and operated in the ordinary manner by a pedal which, when depressed, moves the red see into engagement with the lower ends of all of the damper levers to rock the damper levers about their pivotal point and move their damper heads out of engagement with the strings to eliminate the dampening action and permit of the production of a. loud note.

Having described the construction of the new and improved mechanism, I will now proceed to describe the manner in which the mechanism operates.

In Figure ithe several parts are illustrated in their normal position, or a position of rest.. If,

with the parts in this position, the key I'! be operated in the normal manner, the capstan screw IE will be elevated and will rock the wippen l4 about'its pivotal point Hz. This pivotal movement of the wippen will elevate the fly lever 58 and'its upper end by reason of its engagement with the shoulder 48 of the hammer butt 42, will move the hammer into string striking position. During the operation above described, the adjustable stop 24 is moving towards the action rail l0,

and when it engages the action rail, continued movement of the wippen will cause the adjustable stop, by reason of its engagement with the action rail, to kick the fly lever from beneath the hammer butt to released position. This release of the fly lever permits the hammer to rebound until its butt engages a felt i if! upon the adjacent face of the back check whereupon the hammer is arrested in an intermediate position as in Figure 6. It will also be noted by reference to Figure 6, that the fly lever, when it is kicked from beneath the hammer butt, engages the felt HQ, as illustrated in dotted lines in said Figure 6, and thus the back check also performs the functionof a fly lever stop making it unnecessary to provide a special stop for the fly lever as is the general practice. At the point of contact of the adjustable stop 24 with the action rail, the action rail may be graphited or otherwise lubricated, as indicated at I05.

Simultaneous with the operation just described,

the pivotal movement of the wippen causes the spoon 15 to rock the damper lever about its pivotal point to move the damper head out of engagement with the string 60 just prior to engagement of the string by the hammer, as illustrated in Figure 5.

As thus far described, the several parts are in the position in which they are illustrated in Figure 6, and they will remain in this position so long as the key is maintained depressed. When, however, the key is released, it will return to the position in which it is illustrated in Figure 4, and in so doing, will permit the wippen I4 to swing downwardly around its pivotal point l6.

Downward movement of the wippen M will carry the fly lever downwardly and the spring acts to move the upper end of the fly lever to hammer supporting position beneath the shoulder 48 of the hammer butt. During the operation described above, the bowed spring 86 is functioning to return the hammer to rest upon the hammer rail and the damper into engagement with the string, whereupon all of the parts will have returned to the normal position of rest, in which they are illustrated in Figure 4.

In installation and in making repairs, it is often necessary to remove the key I1. Unless means is provided to support it, the lower action will drop out of operative engagement with the upper action which is most undesirable, since it not only requires a more or less tedious operation to re-set the parts, but leaves them dangling from the wippen pivot and wippen, in which position they are more likely to become broken than is the case when they are retained in their operative position. In the conventional type of action, this supporting of the lower action is accomplished by the bridle strap, which it will be noted has, together with the bridle strap Wire and hook, been entirely eliminated.

In the present construction, when the key I! is removed, the lower action is supported by reason of engagement of the back check with the T- head of the regulating member 62. Since, as before stated, the back check moves through an arc defined by the broken line B in Figure 4 of the drawings, and the T-head of the regulating member moves through the arc defined by the broken lines A in said figure, and since these two arcs intersect each other, it will be obvious that downward movement of the back check is prevented by reason of its engagement with the T-head of the regulating member 62, and because this is so, the lower action will be supported in operative contact with the upper action even though the key I! be removed.- from beneath the wippen, and that this is accomplished without the employment of a bridle strap and its associated parts.

In the conventional form of upright piano ac tion, the fly lever has a tail piece which engages a stop carried by a regulating rail, and it will be noted that all of these parts have been eliminated in the present action as have also the spring rail, the catcher shank, catcher and fly stop.

The bridle strap wire, the fly lever tail piece, the catcher shank, catcher and fly lever stop all being parts which are carried by moving parts of the action, their removal materially lightens the weight of the touch of the action. Furthermore, by thus lightening the weight of the action, I am enabled to place the spring 88 under greater tension without increasing or making the touch heavier than in conventional types of upright movements.

The increase in tension of which the spring 86 is capable without impairing the touch has a decided advantage in that it will more rapidly return the hammer to its position of rest and the damper to string engaging position, thus making for more rapid repetition.

It is also to be noted that the present mechanism is more compact than is the conventional action of the upright type with the consequence that the leverages of the several parts are less, and consequently, the operating effort necessary to produce a note is less than in the conventional action of the upright type.

Since the springs employed in the present invention are of the type above described, and are so mounted as to be at all times under tension, there is no friction between the springs and those parts of the mechanism which they engage and all noise incident thereto, as so often develops in the conventional type of upright piano action is eliminated, as is also all spring hum.

It will also be noted that in the present action, the hammer rail is moved towards the strings to shorten the hammer stroke or throw, there will be no dropping of the keys as is the case in the conventional upright piano action. In the conventional upright action, this dropping of the keyboard is occasioned by reason of the fact that when the hammers are moved towards the strings, all slack is taken out of the bridle straps, the pull on the bridle straps elevating the wippen with the result that the inner end of the key is permitted to elevate while the outer end is permitted to drop.

In the present action the hammers are free to move forward under movement of the hammer rail without effecting movement of any of the parts, since, in such movement, the T-head of the regulating member 62 merely passes out of engagement with the curved end of the back check, since the arc of movement of the said T-head and the arc of the curve of the curved end of the back check are concentric as heretofore described.

From the foregoing it will be readily apparent that an upright piano action constructed in accordance with the present invention has many advantages over the conventional type of upright action, and while the invention has been herein illustrated in its preferred form, it'is to be understood that it is not to be limited to the specific construction in which it is herein illustrated and that it may be practiced in other forms which rightfully fall within the purview of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, is:

1. In an upright piano action, in combination, an upper action including a hammer and a hammer rail, and a lower action including a back check, means including a striking key for normally supporting the lower action when both actions are in a state of rest, and means engaging said back check for supporting the lower action 65 from the upper action when the normal support of the lower action is removed.

2. In an upright piano action, in combination, an upper action including a hammer and a hammer rail, and a lower action including a back check, means including a striking key fornormally supporting the lower action in normal operative position, and means carried by said hammer and adapted for engagement with said back check to support the lower action from the upper action when its normal support is removed.

3. In an upright piano action, in combination, a hammer, a butt for the hammer, a wippen, a fly lever carried by the wippen and having engagement with the hammer butt upon operation of the wippen to move the hammer to string engaging position, a back check, and a hammer butt engaging felt carried by the back check, said hammer butt engaging felt also serving as a stop for the fly lever when the same is tripped relative to the hammer butt.

4. In an upright piano action, in combination, an action rail, a damper lever pivotally mounted upon the action rail, a string engaging damper head carried by said damper lever, a hammer pivotally mounted on said action rail, and a single spring interposed between the damper lever and the hammer, said spring exerting tension in opposite directions normally to hold the hammer in engagement with the hammer rail and the damper head in engagement with the string.

5. In an upright piano action, in combination, an action rail, a damper lever pivotally mounted upon the action rail, a damper head carried by the damper lever, a hammer butt pivotally mounted upon the action rail, a hammer carried by the hammer butt, and a bowed spring interposed between the damper lever and the hammer butt and exerting its force in opposite directions upon the damper lever and the hammer butt.

6. In an upright piano action, in combination, an action rail, a damper lever pivotally mounted upon the action rail, a damper head carried by the damper lever, a hammer butt pivotally mounted upon the action rail, a hammer carried by the hammer butt, and a relatively thin fiat bowed spring interposed between the damper lever and the hammer butt, one end of said spring engaging the damper lever and its other end engaging the hammer butt as and for the purpose described.

7. In a piano action, a back check having a curved forward face, a hammer butt, and a regulating element carried by the hammer butt and 5 including means for engagement with the curved forward face of the back check, said last mentioned means being movable through an arc substantially concentric with the curvature of the curved face of the back check. 1

8. In a piano action, a back check having a forked upper end and a curved front face, a hammer butt, a regulating screw carried by the hammer butt and projecting through the forked end of the back check, and a T-head on said 1 regulating screw, said T-head moving through an arc concentric with the curvature of the curved face of the back check, as and for the purpose described.

9. In a piano action, an action rail, a lower 20 action pivotally mounted upon said action rail, operating means for said lower action, said operating means serving as a support for the lower action when the parts are at rest, an upper action, and means carried by the upper action for engagement with the back, check of the lower action to support the lower action when its operative means is removed.

10. In a piano action, an action rail, a lower action pivotally mounted upon said action rail, 3 operating means for said lower action, said operating means serving as a support for the lower action when the parts are at rest, an upper action, and means carried by the upper action for engagement with the back check of the lower action to support the lower action when its operative means is removed, said last mentioned means including a regulating member carried by the hammer.

WILLIAM S. FINHOLM. ,0 

